


Richard & the sunk cost fallacy

by YouKnowWho



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dialogue-Only, Education, Explanations, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Gen Work, Male Friendship, One Shot, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Original work - Freeform, Sailing, Slice of Life, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Wordcount: 100-2.000, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouKnowWho/pseuds/YouKnowWho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story makes use of the dialogue between characters to explain a logical fallacy: the sunk cost fallacy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Richard & the sunk cost fallacy

Richard looked up into the sails of the ship as they blew in the wind wondering what he could do.

"This is so boring!" He shouted in indignation

"Then play 9 Man's Morris with me." Henry bellowed from port.

"Ha! I'm not falling for that! If I play against you I'll lose my pay and a half by day's end."

"But don't you want to win back your 16 Royals?"

"You want to trick me into the Sunk Cost Fallacy?"

"The what?"

"Sunk-Cost Fallacy. It means that you are making decisions based on past loses instead of future gains."

Henry gave him a blank look.

"Imagine you spent 2 Royals on a ticket to the Tragedy Of Mars, only to find out the director doesn't know centre-stage from side, would you still go to the play or just relax at home reading The State Of Kings?"

"I'd watch the play."

"What if the tickets were free? Then what would you have done?"

"I'd stay home. I don't see what your point here is...."

"Why did your answers differ?"

"Because in the first case I'd have wasted 2 Royals. In the second there was nothing to lose."

"But, in fact, in the first you already lost 2 Royals so it doesn't matter much which one you choose, so choose the one you would enjoy more."

"But you don't just idly waste 2 Royals."

"But either way you wasted 2 Royals because in either case you got no enjoyment out of the play. But, if you went home, then you would have enjoyed a good book. If you went to the play, you'd have wasted your money and your time.”

Henry mulled this over.

"I guess that's got some sense to it.... but what about the money?"

"If the play is going to be bad: don't buy a ticket in the first place.”

Henry smiled "Thanks. You just saved me a lot of trouble so here's your 16 Royals back."

He counted out 16 coins and handed them over.

"Thanks. This wasn't as boring as I thought it would be."


End file.
